The Burden of Friendship
by Silver-Serval
Summary: All I can remember is his face, senbon sprouting from his body - a demented, life-sized voodoo doll..." The burden of friendship was a hard one to bear. SasuNaru friendship. Or shonen-ai, if you wish to view it that way. Oneshot.


**Author's Note**: Hello, readers! I know you all believed me to be dead - personally, I thought the same - but I'm actually alive and mostly-well. Astounding, isn't it? Now, before you all pick up those pitchforks and light those torches, I just want you all to know that I've been having trouble with my personal life, and that's why things here have suffered. (But, let me just say, if you think three months without a story or update is bad, I'm going on six months on another site. Whoops?)

Anyway! I meant to put this up yesterday, but fate had different plans. The document loading thing crapped out and laughed at my misery. Oh, yeah. Merry Christmas, Ariel! ::huffs:: As you can see, I wasn't amused. In any case, I hope you like this. :) Leave a review and tell me what you think of the purposeful angst/my absence?

Oh. By the way, this story is not beta'd. Couldn't find any of my friends that were online and knew the fandom well enough. All mistakes are mine, as WordPad sucks. ^^

**Notes in General**: Takes place sometime after the battle with Haku and Zabuza in Hidden Mist.

**Disclaimer**: Oh, yeah. I totally own this. And that explains why Itachi is freakin' DEAD!

**::Burden::**

I don't know where I am anymore. All I can remember is _his_ face, senbon sprouting from his body - a demented, life-sized voodoo doll, and then all I can see is red. All I know is red.

They - the people in white, some with kind faces, others not - tell me that there is still a world outside of this white-walled prison, that even though her died, likfe still continues on.

They also say that a group of people come in every day to see me. Once upon a time the people in white told me their names, but I don't remember any more. Why bother remembering things that don't exist?

They say I've completely healed, a side effect of the fox's power, but I don't think I'll ever heal. Every impact the senbon made on my skin, I shall treasure. even though the wounds have long healed, I can still feel them. The phantom pain lingers on, an endless reminder of my failure.

Even though I am a failure of a ninja, I still manage to pull of feats of things from my glory days - the days with Sakura-chan, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, and...

While the people in while were in a meeting, no doubt discussing something pertaining to the fox, I stole out of this white prison and rescued one of the senbon that had been lodged in my body. I'll bet that I could never managed something like that now. Now my body is brimming with drugs that slow my reflexes, that dull the constant ache, that are supposed to help me forget - that don't work, that shield me from the fox's influence.

In order to keep my guilty secret safe, I tucked it into the edge of my matress, a tanglible memory in case I ever do forget.

But I won't forget.

I can't forget.

Ever.

...

...

...

Who am I, again?

xxx

From the other side of the one-sided mirror, Sasuke watched as the blond he'd once died for stared listlessly at the disfigured white wall in front of him. To his left, Sakura was unusually silent. To his right, Iruka sobbed softly; Kakashi didn't bother trying stop the other's tears. They all knew that somewhere along the line, they had failed.

Somewhere along the line, somewhere between academy and mission, between then and now, a soul had shattered.

But out of each and every mistake the four of them had made, it was Sasuke who felt the brunt of the burden.

"_I hated you..."_

"_Why?! Why did your protect me? I didn't ask you to!"_

"_Who knows... My body moved of it's own accord, idiot..."_

The burden of friendship was a hard one to bear.

xxx

Silver: Not bad, considering all my time has been going to Fae and Jaren. :)  
Naruto: ... Who?  
Sasuke: Two characters from her original story.  
Naruto: The one I was reading this morning?  
Sasuke: Yeah.  
Naruto: OH! I liked that. :D Assassins are always a winning topic.  
Sasuke: Agreed.  
Silver: .... ::facepalm:: Maybe that's 'cause you guys are, oh, I dunno, _ninjas_?!  
Sasuke: Well, that is a possiblity.  
Naruto: But I like my theory better.  
Silver: Tch. Of course you do.  
Naruto: X)  
Snowkit: ::runs in, claws scrabbling on the wood floor:: OMG, GUESS WHAT!  
Sasuke: What?  
Snowkit. -_- You're supposed to guess!  
Naruto: Uhh...  
Silver: The whozewhatsit found documented evidence that we really are going to die in 2012? And that I wasted all my damned life in school?  
Snowkit: ... No?  
Silver: Well damn. I give up.  
Naruto: I don't! D:  
Silver: Yes. ::slaps a hand of Naru's mouth to shut him up:: You do.  
Snowkit: Oh-kay... ANYWAY! It's snowing again!! :D  
Silver: OMIGOD, REALLY?! ::darts to a window and squees in delight::  
Sasuke: ....?  
Naruto: XD ::stage whisper:: They don't get snow here, I guess.  
Silver: We don't! ::piling on clothing so she can go play in the snow:: Our school never gives out snow days, either. Absolute torture, I swear!  
Boys: Aha...  
Silver: Don't "aha" me. This is the first year in, like, ages that we've had a white Christmas. ::latches onto Naruto's hand and skitters outside into the cold::  
Naruto: O.O Sasuke! HELP!!  
Sauke: Pft! Not on your life, usuratonkachi! ::walks off::


End file.
